The dishes are a harmonious blend of sour, sweet, salty, bitter and spicy flavors. In every dish, there are always at least two flavors mixed together, if not all of the above mentioned flavors. Among them, one flavor will dominate, called the "main flavor".
The sour taste in many Thai dishes comes mainly from lemon and lemongrass. Added to that is the sweet and sour fragrance from lemon leaves. With a sharper sour taste, many dishes use tamarind.
Not salt, the salty taste in Thai cuisine usually belongs to soy sauce or fish sauce. Soy sauce brings a light earthy smell, combining perfectly with vegetables or meat and fish. Fish sauce brings umami sweetness to complete the flavor of the dish.
Not only desserts are sweet, the sweetness of many Thai dishes comes largely from palm sugar, canola sugar, brown sugar and dark soy sauce.
The spiciness comes from chili, galangal, ginger and pepper, often found in soups, curries as well as stir-fried meat or seafood dishes.
The bitterness of some dishes may be due to spice leaves or bitter melon.
Some other dishes also have a rich, creamy flavor, usually from coconut milk.